Two New Publications: Topps Ripped and Programming Historian!

Two quick publication announcements!

First, I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new article published over on the official Topps Ripped blog!

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been a lifelong professional wrestling fan. It’s a passion that goes back to when I was a kid. So, getting the chance to combine that interest with writing about cultural history and trading cards was a fun opportunity. The article, “1987 Topps WWE WrestleMania Cards: History & Culture”, takes a deep dive into the iconic card set released around the time of the legendary WrestleMania III. I explore the design choices, the larger-than-life wrestlers featured, and the cultural significance of these cards during a pivotal boom period for WWE (then WWF).

Second, I’m excited to share that my new article, “Visualizing Urban Demographic Data with R and ggplot2”, is now live on The Programming Historian!

This lesson, which I wrote with Igor Sosa Mayor walks through the process of using R, specifically the tidyverse and ggplot2 packages, to create visualizations of historical urban demographic data. There is a particular focus on understanding the Grammar of Graphics and how to effectively communicate data insights through visual means.

It’s been a busy period, and I’m really pleased to have both of these pieces out in the world. Check them out if you’re interested!